


the family that slays

by makiyakinabe



Category: Kekkaishi
Genre: Gen, King Game, Pre-Canon, also original canon characters who are manga-only, warning: verbosity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-30 14:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6428818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makiyakinabe/pseuds/makiyakinabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first and last game the Ougi brothers ever played.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the family that slays

**Author's Note:**

> Written for genprompt_bingo. The prompt is 'The Way We Were: Pre-canon'.

"Let's play the King Game!"

So exclaimed that child as he literally bounced where he stood, the very picture of excitement.

I leaned back into the canapé, returning my attention to the autobiography in my hands lest his starry eyes met mine. I did not do this out of fear, the desire to avoid the awkwardness that would inevitably pervade the entirety of our conversation, or any other similarly asinine reason.

I simply did not have anything to say to him.

As always, I found my opinion to be shared with my elder brothers. Ichirou-nii and Jirou-nii, whose attention had returned to their dessert and tea respectively, made themselves appear so dispassioned that child did not dare to look towards their armchairs even once.

My younger brothers, however, begged to differ. Smiling, jeering and waiting, they turned their faces toward him straightaway, leaning forward from their seats as they spoke their minds in turn.

"My dear otouto," said Shirou-kun from his settee. "Tell me: why on earth should we be lowering ourselves to consort with the likes of _you?_ "

"No way," said Gorou-kun, from his seat by the window. "I don't want to hear any more yapping. Do us all a favour and go be a whelp somewhere else."

"Why don't we hear him out," said Rokurou-kun, from his ottoman to the left of my canapé. "What do you mean, Shichirou? What's the King Game?"

I stifled a sigh as I lowered my eyes, staring at my book once more.

What foolish little brothers I have. Not once had it occurred to any of them that when it came to that child, the less attention they gave him, the better. Further encouragement was last thing his delusions of familiarity needed.

Such were my thoughts when that child opened his mouth to reply.

 

* * *

 

"Interesting," was Ichirou-nii's verdict.

It was the first time he had spoken aloud since that child came running into the room five minutes prior.

It was also, I realized, the first time he had looked that child in the face in weeks.

How interesting indeed.

In another set of circumstances, this would undoubtedly be the point whereupon I found myself so stunned, all I could do was gaze unseeing at my eldest brother.

The Ichirou-nii I knew was not one to mingle with his lessers. It made no difference whether someone belonged to the main house, one of the myriad branch houses in existence or even the common masses: if they were deemed to be of a lower level than he, then he would have nothing to do with them.

But of course, as that child had proven mere seconds ago, there was an exception to the rule.

"A game where one lucky player can give any order he so chooses, and have it obeyed?" mused Ichirou-nii aloud, sharing a wordless glance with Jirou-nii before turning back to that child. "What an interesting proposal you've made."

It was the first time he had spoken to that child in months.

As though by so doing Ichirou-nii had expressively given his approval on the matter, everyone began to speak at once, their voices steadily rising as they sought to make themselves heard over one another.

"If I may be so bold as to say something, Ichirou-nii," I heard Shirou-kun say earnestly, "the King Game actually isn't an idea of my dear otouto's making. I don't mean to boast, especially not to the person I held in the highest esteem, but the one from whom he learnt of it is none other than I—"

Hereupon I removed my attention from Shirou-kun. There was no point in my continuing to indulge him, now that I heard all that I needed to know.

I turned my attention to Gorou-kun, in time to catch the moment his face contorted with disgust. I nodded to myself and turned away thereafter, having received all the confirmation my conjecture needed.

It was then that I felt a hand tug at my left sleeve.

Turning my head to the side, I looked down and found said hand to belong to Rokurou-kun. Sometime while I was lost in my thoughts, he had left his ottoman in favour of my canapé, opting to occupy the space between myself and two other books I had brought along with me.

I let Rokurou-kun take the autobiography off my hands and stack it atop the other two books.

No sooner had I given him my thanks than he put his hand on my sleeve again, looking at me so very earnestly. "Saburou-nii," he murmured, "I need your help. Would you please say something for me?"

Ah, I thought and looked to Shirou-kun, who was wearing that repellent smile again; to Gorou-kun, who was in midst of yet another tirade about degenerates and brains; and finally to that child, who met my eyes with an increasingly troubled face.

Turning again to Rokurou-kun, I smiled and patted his small hand. "Of course," I said kindly. "That is, provided that what you would like me to say is in and of itself reasonable."

"It is," promised Rokurou-kun, and returned my smile with one of his own.

 

* * *

 

"Remember, everyone: mutilation and murder are forbidden."

So I said whilst gathering the seven lacquered chopsticks I had laid out on the coffee table minutes prior.

Six pairs of eyes stared at me as I did so.

The sight of them was, I confess, surprisingly pleasant to behold. It was the first time that I commanded the attention of every one of my brothers. Willingly too, might I add.

"As," I continued, "are thievery and destruction of other players' property, transferal and assumption of their roles and responsibilities, telling falsehoods, refusal to obey the King and..." I paused for a moment. "Correct me if I am mistaken, but I believe I have covered every condition we discussed."

"No you haven't, 'Burou-nii," said Gorou-kun at once, waving a hand even as he awkwardly perched on his new seat on the settee, opposite Shirou-kun. "You forgot the 'no perverted stuff' part."

" _My goodness,_ " said Shirou-kun fawningly. He was smiling in spite of the glare Gorou-kun aimed his way. "Who'd have thought we’d live to see the day my dear otouto acted like a big brother? Ah, but speaking of brothers... Sabu-nii, don't you think you made the rules a bit too constricting? How are we supposed to enjoy the game when you've took out everything that made it fun in the first place?"

I did not rise to the bait that Shirou-kun had so manifestly laid out for me.

Instead I stretched my mouth into a smile, said, "I am sure you will be able to figure something out," in my most neutral voice and removed my attention from him altogether. "Any other questions?" I then inquired. "Remarks?"

"Cut the chitchat and let's start already," said Gorou-kun.

"Why don't we relax the rules a little," said Shirou-kun.

"Go somewhere else," said that child, wrapping his arm around Rokurou-kun and glaring at me. "The one nii-san wants to sit with is _me._ "

Turning to Rokurou-kun, I acknowledged his look of gratitude with a nod of the head and a smile turned considerably warmer.

Of all my brothers, Rokurou-kun was the only one whose interests were closest in alignment with mine. It was a pity he was in addition the only one of us who was so lenient as to become convinced by that child's delusions of familial intimacy, but no matter: it was not towards that child that he had sought confidence and aid, but myself.

The day would come when my little brother saw that child as the deranged fool he was.

Ichirou-nii cleared his throat, and we looked towards him as one.

He pointed his dessert fork at me. "Shuffle those chopsticks, Saburou," he said. "I do not have all day."

"Of course," I said, and proceeded to do as was required of me.

Had I known that the game we were about to partake in would result in the obliteration of the very sitting room we were inhabiting and the devastation of every roof, window and tree within a three hundred air-mile radius, I would most certainly have sought to persuade Ichirou-nii to reconsider instead.


End file.
